The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-09-04
SPORTSMEN AND THEIR GUNS
Some Of the Hobbies of Those Who Shoot
at the Trap and in the Field.
Advantages of the Choke Bore over the Old
Cylinder-Composition Of Gun Barrels
The HammerleSs and the Repeater.

shotguns when he has a willing listener, ''tha
nearly every man has hobby-something that
he talks ana thinks about little more than be
does OF the other things that go to make up the
social part of his life7 1t may be love for fast
horses, or dogs of high pedigree. it may be a
Partially for Wishing as compared with the
moro crude style of baltcastine; in fact. there
are hundreds of things. large and small in their
appearance to others, out of which his fancy will
pick that most suited to his nature and when
he will ride almost to the exclusion of the others.
This is especially true OF the man who likes to
own a good gun--to shoot whether in the field.
in the marsh. at the trap His Is his
hobby. If it is old and artouated-oue that
has been handed down to him rs heirloom,
and that has been used periodically since his
boyhood--he cherishes it for its past deeds and
loves to tell his fellow-sportsmen of the many
long shoEs he has made with it; how often he has
killed ducks and squirrels at hundred yards, and
how his father had the barrels made TO order out
OF melted and twisted horseshoe nails. This
specimen Of the gun crank is getting rarer every
day He is giving way to the one who likes the
latest Inventions and who never sees anything
new without making an effort to trade or sell
his old gun in order to secure it. IF he has plenty
of money and has little of the English-you-
run to the higher grade guns of foreign manu-
facture, costing between 5000 and $500, and no
amount of argument will convince him that
American gun which be made to order for
1925, and which both looks and shoots as we'll as
the former, 10 half good. There are very few Of
this class, however, in Indianapolis; but New
England and New York State have him in plen-
ty. He loads down the columns of his favorite
sporting journal with the wonderful shooting
qualities Of his new gun lit is always
that he writes about and Is that nothing
produced in this country will compare with it.
Sometimes his praise is so fervid that il sug-
gests a free gun and liberal pay from the agent
of the particular shotgun he extols The real
sportsman is of another class. 1t makes little
difference TO him who is the maker of the gun
he owns. so that it is able TO do its work well.
1t may he q medium priced Parker. high priced
imported Dougal or cheap repeating Winchester
or Spencer; it fills his wants if he can bring his
duck or goose to bag at fifty yards can hold
his own with others at the trap. This is the
man who never buys gun without first target
ing 1t. IL 1t is made to order one of the condi-
tions generally is the privilege of trying it be-
fore accepting and paying for II, and if it fails
TO put a certain number of pellets in twenty
four inch circle and has not even distribution
II is shipped back. The same privilege is usually
granted buyers by the dealers of this city. If
the gun happens to be phenomenally close
shooter It will become his pride and he will ever
love 20 tell his friends of its worth and merit"
The old sportsmans cynical remarks led the
reporter to make some inquiries about the i'm
provement in the manufacture of shoteuns
during the last decade two. Among other
things he found what appeared to him to be
remarkable Inconsistency. Every body knows
that with the fuller development of the country,
game of nearly every species dimnishes is
driven TO seek secluson in the unbroken wilds
of the tar North, yet each year sees a larger sale
and output OF firearms than the preceding one,
and of a nature and quality that admit of ten
fold the destruction Of the now-discarded muz-
zle-loader. Perhaps the secret of this lies in
the fact that trap shooting at inanimate flying
targets is rapidly increasing. The old glass ball
has gone almost entirely out of use and in its
place have come about forty different kinds of
objects. nearly all of them being made to repre-
sent, In their flight from q springtrap,
kind of bird. Shooting at these is excellent
practice and Is to be commended better than
the inhuman slaughter of pigeons.
The greatest Improvement in shotguns has
been made within the past ten years. Various
styles OF reech-loaders were in use long before
that time, but they were complicated in their
action. crude in construction and little better
In shooting qualities than the older styles. The
gun OF to day Is a vastly superior weapon, and
aside from its effectiveness, is a model of sim
plicity and artistic beauty of finish; but the
Thing that most endears it to the heart of the
sportsman is it's ability to throw charge of shota
long distance without spreading too much
territory. This result is brought about by a
pew system of boring out the barrels-choke-
boring 1t Is commonly called-which co insists in
having the barrels of smaller diameter at the
muzzle than they are at the breech. This has
a tendency to bunch the shot it leaves the
gun, and is in direct opposition in its results to
the darinc-mouthed bunderbus of the last CEN
tnry. There are several different styles
of choke-bo boring employed by rival manufactur-
ers, each OF which is claimed to be the best
They are known the taper-choke, the egg
choke, the compound choke and the iug-choke.
The first named and most popular is used
than the others and IS simply gradual lessen
ing of the bore from the breech to the muzzle
the egg-choke is an oval widening on the inside
Of the barrel followed by a slight contraction
near the muzzle; the compound-chokei s really a
doubechoke near the end, and the Jug is like its
name-a sharp contraction near the mouth of
the gun. Each system has its advocates but
the fact that more guns sold with the taper
choke indicates its merit. Gun-makers have |
their systems of boring reduced to a science, |
and what was once difficult and uncertain
work IS now done by perfectly adjusted ma
chinery that can turn out all alike if necessary,
or can bore special choke to suit the wish of |
the buyer.
Gun-barrels made of several grades of
metal, the toughest and most durable of which |
Is called Damascus steel. The next in quality |
is laminated steel; the next twist" aud the |
cheapest and poorest made of decarboniZed
great care in its preparation, and is composed Of
about equal quantities of the finest steel and
iron. These, while in a heated state, are
twisted and rolled and beaten together, forming
aexitle metal that has britteness about it
and is capable of withstandng an enormous and
sudden strain without breaking. The slightest
to neended use, and this more than anything
else, makes a 6rst-class pair of gun-barrels a
costly affair. Lamiuated steel and the best quality
Of twist are quite strong and durable if prop
srly made. but decarbonized steel aud plain cast
ron or steel ought never to be used in shot-gnns
unless It Is extra thick. If made of the same
.hinpess barrels of the best quality they are
dangerous and liable to burst under
The influence of a heavy charge of powder. All
he finer grades of gun barrels are imported to
his country from England They are shipped
n the rough and bored and finished by Ameri-
IAN manufacturers, who are noted all over the
world for their skill in polishing, fitting, lock-
making, and the taste displayed in the shape and
making of stocks England. doubt, excels
n the quality of her iron and steel. but when it
comes TO making the smaller parts Of gun ma
.hinery inventive America takes the cake
The latest marked invention in the mauufact-
ire OF fire arms is the hsmmerless breech-load-
NC shotgun. 1t is odd-ooking thing one
who has been used to handle a gun with the
lammers on top. and il takes him some time TO
yet Accustomed TO their absence. Ii is the sim